There have been a few reports so far from customers who have installed Update Rollup 2 for Media Center 2005 and have had problems getting their infrared (IR) receivers or devices such as remote controls or wireless keyboards to work correctly afterwards. Update Rollup 2 setup installs an updated set of IR drivers (also shipped independently as KB888795) that have caused some sporadic issues. Here is a list of the workarounds we have seen be successful so far to resolve IR receiver/remote control issues after installing Update Rollup 2:

1. The IR receiver appears to be installed correctly but pressing buttons on the remote does not do anything

In this scenario, it is possible that the remote control has been configured to broadcast on a channel range that was supported previously but has since been removed. You can use the steps that I previously posted here to reconfigure your remote control to broadcast on a different channel to resolve this issue

2. One or more of the IR drivers is configured incorrectly in Device Manager

In this scenario, if you look in Device Manager (by going to the Start menu, choosing Run and typing devmgmt.msc), you will see yellow exclamation points next to one or more items in the Human Interface Devices category. The following steps will resolve this issue in most cases:

Go to the Start menu, choose Run and type devmgmt.msc

Expand the Human Interface Devices category

Right-click on each of the items with eHome Infrared Transceiver in the name and choose Uninstall

Unplug the IR device from the computer and wait for approximately 30 seconds

Plug the IR device back into the computer and wait for Windows plug-and-play detection to kick in and re-install the device

3. Some remote control buttons (number keys, arrows, enter) fail to function, while other buttons work as expected

We have not yet been able to reproduce this scenario in our test lab, but we have seen this set of steps resolve this issue on some customer machines so I wanted to post it here in case someone runs into a similar problem:

Delete the file named %windir%\inf\keyboard.pnf. Please note that the correct file to delete ends in PNF - do not delete keyboard.INF.

Go to the Start menu, choose Run and type devmgmt.msc

Expand the Human Interface Devices category

Right-click on each of the items with eHome Infrared Transceiver in the name and choose Uninstall

Unplug the IR device from the computer and wait for approximately 30 seconds

Plug the IR device back into the computer and wait for Windows plug-and-play detection to kick in and re-install the device

4. If none of the above suggestions work

There are some cases that we have seen where none of the above suggestions work. A customer posted a comment indicating that it sometimes helps to short the Media Center remote control to forcibly reset it. You can see more information about how to do that in this blog post.

<update date="12/29/2005"> Added a link to a new post I created with a description of how to short a remote control </update>

Hi Aaron, I can imagine it's tough to reproduce every problem announced here, I apologize for my earlier comment.

After trying many possible solutions I think I've got my problem fixed now.. It seems that restarting the eHome application on shutdown/resume fixes my USB-detection problem. Still, the USB re-detectionproblem exists, but by restarting the eHome application it uses the updated (not 'previous session') USB-devices, at least this works for my remote.

Hi Kristian - No need to apologize for anything. I am glad you were able to resolve part of the issue. I'm not sure I understand your current question - is your goal to automatically restart Media Center? If so, there is an option to cause Media Center to perform periodic optimization (which will stop and restart Media Center and some of the services it uses). You can find this option in Settings | General | Optimization if you have Update Rollup 2 or later installed.

I have tried everything listed here (including shorting the battery contacts on the remote).

None of these suggestions have worked, so some of the buttons on my MCE remote still do not work. Basically, the only keys that work are the number (channel) buttons, the green start button, the channel up/down button, arrows, OK, more, PC off, DVD menu, Live TV, Guide and Recorded TV. All the other buttons don't do anything (ie, volume, mute, play, pause, etc).

Hi Franck - Have you tried suggestion #3 listed above to see if that helps in your scenario? Also, there are some other suggestions that you might find useful in the "Remote control and IR receiver errors" section of my blog article at http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/articles/487537.aspx.

Hi Jamye - I'm sorry but I don't have any other suggestions other than the ones I've already posted on my blog. You may want to contact your computer manufacturer to see if they have any additional troubleshooting steps that they can suggest. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Beren

15 May 2006 1:38 PM

astebner - THAT WORKED! If I was an old lady, i'd bake you a cake.

Thanks!

beren

Jamye

16 May 2006 8:28 AM

Aaron (and Franck),

referring to Franck's posts it seems that installing IntelliType does something to help the problem of some buttons not working for MCE. (I have since installed IntelliType and can report the same results as Franck - ie. a few extra buttons now work - the same as Franck's).

Perhaps there's a way to edit the key mappings in IntelliType to get the remaining buttons working?

There's a commands.xml file that appears to have application specific mapping, but it's very cryptic ...

Hi Jamye (and Franck) - I have not heard of any previous cases where installing IntelliType has changed the behavior of the Media Center remote control, and I am not sure why that would be happening. I don't know of a way to edit key mappings in IntelliType to fix issues with Media Center remote controls either. If you haven't yet, I'd suggest that both of you try to install the latest IR driver package located at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b39d53f1-0ac9-433b-b488-4cab82f31dc8&DisplayLang=en and see if that helps at all.

Mits

17 May 2006 12:09 AM

I'm having an issue with MCE setup since I formatted and reloaded Windows. I'm trying to setup my Dish Network box again, but this time MCE doesn't recognize anything when I press any buttons on the Dish remote. The IR receiver blinks like it's getting the signal, it just isn't doing anything on the screen. I have both update rollup 2 and IR update rollup 2. I'm lost here. Everything is setup exactly as it was before the reformat.

Thanks,

Dan

Franck T.

17 May 2006 3:34 AM

Hi astebner - I already try your suggestion #3 and installed all the KBs as I can find for Media Center and IR problem. I try as well to reset my remote, change the USB ports, remove other USB devices, install MCE diag tools... Reinstall Rollup2 and KB912024. Unfortunatily, Nothing work.
I try IntelliType because I see my remote as "Microsoft eHome MCRI Keyboard", it was on my own initiative.
FYI, I install the TV card and Remote after install Rollup2. I never see the remote working fully. I plug the remote on a XP Pro and the Remote can control Volume without pb. I don't thing it's a device problem, I guess it a matter of software.

Thanks for you advice, I let you posted if I find anything.

Franck T. (UK)

Marco

17 May 2006 7:48 PM

Hi all, I've performed all steps relating to IR remote issues in this blog yet still cannot get it to work.
Installed RU2, ir ipdate 912024_v2 and recently the new April RU2 patch
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914548

Issue is the M.Soft IR transiever flashs its red LED internally without any IR MCE remote bieng pressed.? Not sure why any ideas before i reimage PC again (btw this is a fresh install)

Rgds Marco

jb4short

23 May 2006 1:52 PM

I have a DELL XPS Gen5 with a Lumanate dual tuner TV card, a Soundblaster Audigy 2, running Windows MCE. My Microsoft IR remote has only partially functioned since receiving the system last year. I have spent countless hours on the phone with DELL's support and they've sent me now three remote kits (remote and USB IR interface) and two tuner cards. NOTHING has changed. The remote changes channels, flips between modes, arrow keys work, power on/off works but the VOLUME and the Record/playback sections do NOT work. Does anyone have any suggestions (Besides the obvious solution of tossing this out a window)? I've followed most of the instructions in these blogs.

sudhir

26 May 2006 7:46 PM

I just build HTPC system with MCE2005 remote and keyboard. My MS remote works fine all keys work fine. I have problem with the MS Keyboard only menu buttons on left and right of the keyboard work. Nothing else work.

Shawn

26 May 2006 8:33 PM

Is there a place where I can find settings for various STBs and MCE? I'm trying to configure for a Motorola / Next Level Communications box that my Telco uses to supply my digital TV signal. The model number appears to be 2200N30000. I've managed to resolve the ignore duplicate digits problem (122 transmits as 12) but I can't get either the MS Keyboard or remote to transmit 3 or 9. Any suggestions? I have applied both rollup 2's - OS and IR.